I take the small brush accessorie (can't remember what it is called at the moment) from the vaccum and give them a good vaccuming, then for the nooks and crannies I use mildly damp q-tips and toothbrush. Anyway you look at it, it is a time consuming pursuit.

a softish brush and warm soapy water does the trick. the mild detergent is important to shift any grease the dust is sticking to.

i recently bought an AT ST that fucking stank, so i hosed it with Milton anti-bacterial spray to try and kill off any mildew it was harboring and make it smell better too. it still smells pretty awful though. um. my smelly AT ST may not be relevant to the thread.

Put your smelly toys in a mesh bag and hang them on the clothesline on a windy, windy day. Try to keep them out of the sun. After a day or 2 of this treatment...no more stink. Oxygen, nature's deodarant.

Go over the toys with a dry brush first - I've found that the car vent brushes at auto parts stores work great for this. Q-tips and water removes more built up dirt. Plastic dental picks can get into the tight spots, and Goo Gone is good for removing stickers and their residue (let it soak for a minute or two then wipe off). Hit the joints with canned air.

Don't use soap, rubbing alcohol, or detergents of any kind. You never know how the chemicals in them will react to the plastics.

It is time consuming, but it's good for a vintage toy. It took me two days to get my G1 Scorponok cleaned to look like new. Don't forget to transform the toy slowly and check out all the "hidden" parts that the transformation process reveals. Clean as you transform it.

i use a damp q-tip if it is just dust, haven't cleaned any greasy ones though

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Luckily I have not come across any greasy tfs either. If you do I would suggest using lens cleaner for plastic safety glasses, that stuff cuts grease pretty good and I use it on my clear plastic lenses at work with no ill effects to the plastic, it looks like I have no glasses on at all. I will bring some home and try it out on a junker tonight and post the results.

Put your smelly toys in a mesh bag and hang them on the clothesline on a windy, windy day. Try to keep them out of the sun. After a day or 2 of this treatment...no more stink. Oxygen, nature's deodarant.

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The same works for a bag of cat turds after cleaning out the litter box.

I use a two inch paint brush to brush off dust. As long as you've not exposed figures to both dust and damp then it's easy to keep them clean, even after months of dust collecting. If they've been in the damp as well then the dust can sorta weld itself to the figure and then it's a bummer to have to clean.